hot zones

Noun

hot zone (plural hot zones)

1. An area to which access is restricted because it is contaminated with radiation or a chemical or biological biohazard.
   • A hot zone was established quickly. Unfortunately, these efforts were compromised by a few MPD officers on the scene who did not understand the serious nature of the potential chemical/biological threat and treated the incident more as a bomb scare. These officers initially crossed in and out of...1997, U S Fire Administration, FEMA, Fire Department Response to Biological Threat at B'nai B'rith Headquarters, page 6
2. An area where fighting or hostilities are likely to erupt.
   • The bush war still scared him. Even more this day for he knew he was to travel through a hot zone with only three other men, none of them soldiers either, to an area close to the Gona-Re-Zhou transited extensively by groups of well armed communist trained insurgents based in Mozambique.2012, Jim Scott, Wanderings and Sojourns
3. An apparatus for growing crystals at very hot temperatures.
   • The “hot zone” is the key part in controlling the growth process, the melt and gas flow, and the concentration of the intrinsic point defects and their aggregates.2014, Peter Rudolph, Handbook of Crystal Growth: Bulk Crystal Growth, page 140
4. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see hot, zone.
   • The goal was for passengers to feel relaxation in the initial cool zone, a bit more motion in the hot zone at the center, and a renewed sense of relaxation as they entered the second cool zone and exited the space.2014, Ryan Bañagale, Arranging Gershwin